Possessing Poltergeist1U
Creature—Spirit (Common)
Flying
Possess (Rather than cast this card from your hand, you may put it on top of a creature you control. That creature becomes this card.)
1/1
My questions are:
a) Does putting a creature onto the battlefield with possess use the stack? My understanding is no.
b) Provided my above understanding is correct, does putting a creature onto the battlefield with possess grant the opponent priority, or could you immediately follow it up with something like Sudden Spoiling? (Assuming no abilities trigger as a result of it entering the battlefield.)
In order for your ability to work as intended possessing would have to be a special action like morph but only usable during your main phase while the stack is empty, baring flash possessors. This is to avoid the same problems with morph so it should be treated similarly. However because the way this is worded there is no creature entering the battlefield so there will be no triggers to worry about, it is more like the creature already on the battlefield became a copy of something else, so while a zone change occurred nothing noticed it. So as the active player you would maintain priority after possessing allowing you to cast Sudden Spoiling or any split second card though I'm unsure what the strategic advantage to this is, it is a possibility.
Side note, are the rules for posting here similar to the regular ruling forum?
Thank you for your detailed reply! My intention was for it to be a special action like morph, so all good there. I hadn't realized it wouldn't count as entering the battlefield, so thanks for pointing that out as well.
As for the strategic value of casting Sudden Spoiling immediately afterward, I'm not sure there really is one. That was more just an example to see if you retained priority.
I can't speak with authority as to the rules regarding the regular ruling forum because I've never posted there, but I don't see why they would be different?
Seems like it should just be a regular activated ability, so that among other things you could put a cost on it.
Possess <cost> (<cost>, Exile this card from your hand: Target creature you control becomes a copy of this card. Possess only as a sorcery.)
That is also more obvious how it interacts with Turn to Mist effects. (It doesn't.)
Rather than making the chosen creature a copy, something like bestow might perform better.
Possess <cost> (<cost>, Exile this card from your hand: Choose target creature you control. Possess only as a sorcery.)
Possessed creature has <ability>.
Hm. Your first idea is compelling in some ways, but the cases where I'll want to put a cost on possessing are so few that they won't make up for the awkwardness of "Possess 0" everywhere. It also seems like it would be difficult to keep track of unless it's represented by putting the possessing creature on top of the possessed creature, which is what happens as I already have it worded.
As for Turn to Mist effects, I'd actually like them to stay with the possessing creature. It's (supposed to be) sort of like Pokemon evolution: the possessed creature essentially ceases to exist but counters, auras, equipment, damage, etc. remain.
Is there any reason what I originally had doesn't work? Or are you just saying it's confusing?
- Possess without a cost would only work for small dinky little creatures, and then it is a fairly boring mechanic. Or are you intending that you still pay the card's mana cost?
- If it uses exile, you would keep the exiled card with the chosen creature. Whether you put it on top of or underneath probably isn't too critical as long as you can clearly tell. That becomes a little problematic if you have a creature with possess being possessed by another card.
406.5. Exiled cards that might return to the battlefield or any other zone should be kept in separate piles
to keep track of their respective ways of returning. Exiled cards that may have an impact on the
game due to their own abilities (such as cards with haunt) or the abilities of the cards that exiled
them should likewise be kept in separate piles.
- Turn to Mist resets the creature, and would presumably undo this effect also.
Possess as I've shown it isn't actually what I'm looking to implement, but it doesn't differ very much at all from the real thing. I figured it wouldn't cause an issue, but here we are. (Although my original questions did get answered, so I suppose this was a technical success.)
Anyway, possess is really just a stage name for my Pokémon evolution mechanic, which is identical, except that each Pokémon can only evolve its pre-evolved counterpart, rather than any random token, so it needn't just be dinky little creatures.
If I ever implement possess as its own thing, I will probably use your version, because yours does make much more sense when you're allowed to use any creature.
Possessing Poltergeist 1U
Creature—Spirit (Common)
Flying
Possess (Rather than cast this card from your hand, you may put it on top of a creature you control. That creature becomes this card.)
1/1
My questions are:
a) Does putting a creature onto the battlefield with possess use the stack? My understanding is no.
b) Provided my above understanding is correct, does putting a creature onto the battlefield with possess grant the opponent priority, or could you immediately follow it up with something like Sudden Spoiling? (Assuming no abilities trigger as a result of it entering the battlefield.)
Side note, are the rules for posting here similar to the regular ruling forum?
As for the strategic value of casting Sudden Spoiling immediately afterward, I'm not sure there really is one. That was more just an example to see if you retained priority.
I can't speak with authority as to the rules regarding the regular ruling forum because I've never posted there, but I don't see why they would be different?
That is also more obvious how it interacts with Turn to Mist effects. (It doesn't.)
Rather than making the chosen creature a copy, something like bestow might perform better.
Possessed creature has <ability>.
As for Turn to Mist effects, I'd actually like them to stay with the possessing creature. It's (supposed to be) sort of like Pokemon evolution: the possessed creature essentially ceases to exist but counters, auras, equipment, damage, etc. remain.
Is there any reason what I originally had doesn't work? Or are you just saying it's confusing?
- If it uses exile, you would keep the exiled card with the chosen creature. Whether you put it on top of or underneath probably isn't too critical as long as you can clearly tell. That becomes a little problematic if you have a creature with possess being possessed by another card.
to keep track of their respective ways of returning. Exiled cards that may have an impact on the
game due to their own abilities (such as cards with haunt) or the abilities of the cards that exiled
them should likewise be kept in separate piles.
- Turn to Mist resets the creature, and would presumably undo this effect also.
Possess as I've shown it isn't actually what I'm looking to implement, but it doesn't differ very much at all from the real thing. I figured it wouldn't cause an issue, but here we are. (Although my original questions did get answered, so I suppose this was a technical success.)
Anyway, possess is really just a stage name for my Pokémon evolution mechanic, which is identical, except that each Pokémon can only evolve its pre-evolved counterpart, rather than any random token, so it needn't just be dinky little creatures.
If I ever implement possess as its own thing, I will probably use your version, because yours does make much more sense when you're allowed to use any creature.